


Somewhere Else to Go

by ncfan



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Canon Speculation, Episode: s01e05 Terror of the Terrafirmians!, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Missing Scene, POV Female Character, Reasonable Authority Figures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 19:14:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12394416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ncfan/pseuds/ncfan
Summary: After they make it back to McDuck Manor, Mrs. Beakley takes Lena aside for a talk.





	Somewhere Else to Go

**Author's Note:**

> Written because while we know what Lena was reacting to when Magica made her first appearance in ‘Terror of the Terrafirmians’, Mrs. Beakley does _not_. And because of the unpleasant implications about Lena and Magica’s relationship, and because Beakley seems to have picked up on something being up with Lena’s home life.

The night was almost completely spent by the time they reached the front gate of McDuck Manor. Black skies were turning indigo, shot through with threads of pink and lavender, and one by one, the stars were winking out, heading off to bed.

_I certainly wish I could go to bed_ , Bentina thought wearily as she neared the door, the rest of her party trailing after her. Her back ached horribly, and there were a few throbbing spots on her arms and legs that she suspected would show bruises when she went to change into clean clothes. _What a wretched night_.

No light shone from the windows. Mister McDuck was still asleep, it would appear. Donald, mercifully, was out of town on a job interview; Bentina could only imagine his distress if he’d had any inkling of what was happening to his nephews just a few hours prior. “I’ll begin making breakfast shortly,” she told the others. “Now, go inside and get washed up.”

Webby, Huey, Dewey and Louie raced inside, bleary-eyed and yawning, but still excited about what they’d discovered in the old subway system; Bentina could hear them chattering as they pelted up the stairs. She smiled fondly after them and supposed that Mister McDuck would simply have to live with being woken early. Launchpad followed after them, and Bentina found her fondness tinged with exasperation. The theater owner had shown her what he’d done to that bathroom; how was it even possible for one duck to destroy so many toilets in so short a time?

Then came the last, to be greeted with exasperation mixed with only slightly grudging gratitude, cautious willingness to be open-minded, and lastly, something that was rapidly germinating into concern. Not a pleasant mix, but the things on Bentina’s mind were themselves unpleasant. As Lena crossed the doorway into the house, Bentina asked her, “Lena, shouldn’t you call your parents? They’re likely wondering where you are.”

Lena paused and blinked. Her face froze in something like confusion, but her facial muscles were too taut for that, her shoulders too stiff. After a long moment (too long, Bentina thought with a sinking feeling, for her confusion to be attributed entirely to lack of sleep), Lena shrugged. “’S no problem. I haven’t got a curfew so long as I don’t miss school.”

“I… see.”

She had told Huey much the same thing when they met outside the theater last night.

_“So, where are your parents? Are they cool with you being out this late?”_

_“Yeah, it’s fine. They only get mad if I miss school.”_

Delivered without any long pause, but the content was the same. The first time, Bentina hadn’t been thinking about whether to take it at face value or not. She’d been assessing Webby’s new friend, whom Bentina knew little about except that she’d already led Webby into danger at least once. But after everything that happened last night— _everything_ —Bentina was not sure she was willing to take it at face value anymore.

“Lena, if you would come with me to my office.” She opened her mouth to protest quickly enough, but Bentina cut her off by holding up a hand and giving her what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “You’re not in trouble. I only wish to speak with you privately.”

Lena stared up at her out of shuttered eyes before nodding shortly. “’Kay.”

The trip to the back of the house was a quiet one. Bentina occasionally chanced a glance behind her, but Lena was busy drinking in her surroundings, wide-eyed, silent, more than a little peaked. She looked sometimes like she was straining to keep her eyes open, and didn’t notice the scrutiny she was under.

Bentina’s office as just as she had left it—neat and orderly, the filing cabinets upright, the desk and chairs free from scratches or dust, and every book where it was supposed to be on the bookshelf by the window. There was no reason, Bentina supposed, to assume that it would be otherwise. Mister McDuck never took anything out of her office, and the children had been with her all night. Still, it was always nice to come home and find everything as she had left it. There was a time when that hadn’t been the case...

“So you really _do_ have an office,” Lena remarked from the doorway, eyebrow quirked, smirk on her lips, bravado firmly back in place.

…But that was a long time ago, and not worth dwelling upon any longer.

Bentina favored her with a thin smile. “Of course. This might be Mister McDuck’s manor, but it’s my house. One needs a base of operations from which to coordinate the upkeep of _this_ house.”

Lena’s smirk twitched. “What, so you’re like some army quartermaster?”

“Something to that effect. Now, come inside and sit down. We can hardly have a conversation with you standing at the other side of the room.”

Lena stared around her as she crossed the room, her dark eyes growing almost bright with curiosity, though fatigue seemed to have sapped that out of her. She took a seat in the armchair across from Bentina’s, sinking into the plush cushions with visible relief. She held her phone face-down in her hands, running her thumb against side of the scratched case. Looked at Bentina from downcast eyes, and said nothing.

The quiet was jarring; no impertinent comment, no attempt at wit. Bentina took a breath. “First… I would like to thank you again for getting me out from under that train car.”

To that, Lena shrugged, not meeting her gaze. “I… It’s fine. You don’t just leave people like that.”

“I honestly don’t understand how you managed it,” Bentina admitted. That had been at the back of her mind since she’d woken up on that dusty floor, dazed and sore and not remembering where she even was at first. Since she’d first remembered where she was and what had happened just before she passed out, she could not understand how Lena had done it. “Levers and fulcrums are wonderful things, but I doubt a simple crowbar would be sufficient to move a train car.”

“Just… adrenaline, I guess.” She rubbed the back of her neck, clutched at her phone again once she stopped. “I’ve heard people can do all kinds of crazy stuff when they’ve got their blood pumping.”

Bentina nodded. “I suppose so.” Truth be told, she’d heard much the same thing—people performing incredible feats of strength when they were in a dire situation. She had no idea what the limits of that were, but could only assume that that or something similar had been at work in Lena lifting the train car off of her. “That wasn’t the only thing I wished to speak with you about.”

She was met with considering silence.

Bentina wondered, just a little irritably, if Lena’s silence signaled caution or a particularly passive-aggressive form of disrespect. Ah, well; it wasn’t relevant at the moment. “When we were down in the subway tunnel last night, you did something that…” She rooted around for the right word, brow furrowed. “…Concerned me.”

_This_ garnered a reaction more vocal than silence. Lena scowled, her eyes flashing. “If you still think I’m trouble, why’d you even let me come back with you?” She leaned forwards a little in her chair. “Don’t tell me you dragged me all the way out here to—“

“Concerned _for_ you, Lena,” Bentina said quietly, “not about you.”

Lena abruptly clammed up again, sinking so far into the back of her chair that, for a moment, Bentina honestly thought she might be swallowed up. One hand went up to fiddle with her shirt collar; the other was clenched, white-knuckled, on her phone. After what felt like an eternity, the fidgeting stopped, and she just clutched at her phone as she had before. “What d’you mean?”

Now they came to it. Bentina fought back a grimace as she found herself struggling for words. These things were only rarely spoken of when she was a child, and not unless the situation was proven to be dire. Bentina did not know the situation to be dire, and she had no hard evidence as to just what the situation _was_. Would it be better to tread lightly, at least until she had more information, or would it be better to be blunt and ask directly? She took a deep breath and said, “There was a moment in the tunnels last night when we were… speaking.” If Bentina remembered correctly, she’d been close to shouting. “You backed away from me.”

As objectionable as nearly all of Lena’s behavior had been last night, Bentina recognized that she had not exactly covered herself in glory with how she had responded. She could admit that. But that moment… It was when she had come close to shouting. Lena had frozen up, stiff as a board, apparently unwilling to even look her in the eye. And then, quickly, furtively, like a mouse skittering out of the light, she had edged away from her.

In the moment, Bentina’s first thought was that she really had gone too far. No child should ever feel good about being told off, but neither should they react like _that_. The more time that elapsed from that moment, and the more Bentina thought about it, the more it bothered her. Temper lost, she had made to scold Lena, and Lena had flinched, froze, then quickly backed away from her.

Well, that was certainly suggestive, wasn’t it?

“It was never my intention to hurt you,” Bentina said plainly. “I… am sorry that I gave you any reason to believe otherwise. Regardless of the circumstances, it was wrong of me to make you feel as though I might hurt you.”

As soon as Lena opened ~~~~her mouth, she clamped it shut again. Her expression was half-shock, half-ambivalence, early morning painting deep shadows and deeper lines on her face.

When it became clear that Lena wasn’t going to respond, Bentina asked, as gently as she could, “Is everything alright for you at home?”

Lena blinked. “Yeah.” She was using that tone Bentina had heard a great deal of last night, the tone of someone who was relating something so obvious that the other person ought to feel foolish for not realizing it right away. Last night, it had rankled. This morning, it sounded hollow. “…Why… wouldn’t it be?”

“You said yourself that your parents don’t care where you go at night, so long as you don’t miss school,” Bentina pointed out. “You don’t give the impression of being someone who enjoys a great deal of supervision.” The specter of her third point hung in the air between them, as heavy as a laden weight, as cold as winter.

“My parents’re just out of town a lot,” Lena replied quickly. Her eyes darted to and fro around the room. “For work, you know?”

“Really?” Skepticism bled into Bentina’s voice; she couldn’t help it.

“ _Really_ ,” Lena shot back. She jutted her jaw out. “I’m old enough to be home by myself for a couple of days.”

She’d flipped her phone over and started typing, drumming on the screen with her thumbs. A spark of irritation ignited in Bentina’s chest. _Really, now?_ She opened her mouth to scold her, only to fall silent when she realized that the screen was still dark, and that Lena’s eyes were fixed on a point about three inches higher than the phone.

“I… see.” Bentina stared very hard at Lena’s face, but Lena wasn’t even trying to make eye contact with her anymore. She bit back on a heavy sigh and got to her feet. “Well, there is a guest washroom on the second floor if you want to shower before breakfast. Come with me; I’ll show you where it is.”

Later, as Bentina was heading back down the stairs and towards the kitchen, she mulled over the conversation in her mind, troubled. To say that she was at all reassured by what Lena had told her would be a lie. But at the same time, she’d not really learned anything that struck her as material.

_If I had pressed harder, she might have said more_. Or she might have withdrawn entirely and marched right out the door, never to be seen again. Bentina could not say for certain. If it was Webby, she would know precisely what to say, what to do, and how Webby would react. As for Lena, Bentina had spent so much time last night looking for things to distrust and dislike that she had very little real sense of what Lena was like was a person.

She still wasn’t entirely certain that Lena was the sort of friend she wanted her granddaughter to have. But it seemed now to Bentina that she ought to at least give the girl a chance to prove herself trustworthy—reckless did not necessarily equate to malicious, after all. And it wouldn’t hurt to let Lena see that she had somewhere else to go, if going home was ever no longer an option.


End file.
